Amazon has been taking it on the chin in media coverage of its dispute with publisher Hachette, culminating with Stephen Colbert comparing Jeff Bezos to Voldemort this week. But the company’s reputation has so far proven strong enough to withstand the barrage.
Research by YouGov BrandIndex last year ranked Amazon the best-perceived brand in the U.S., and sentiments about the company among U.S. consumers have remained largely intact during the past few weeks in the YouGov BrandIndex Buzz daily survey.
A report from the firm, published today, shows only small changes in perception of the company in the U.S. and U.K.
“Although the dispute with Hachette has received considerable attention, Amazon’s perception changes — as measured by YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz scores — over the past few weeks can best be described as ‘minute’ and word of mouth scores have remained steady,” the firm says in its summary of the results.
In Germany, where Amazon is in a wage dispute with its workers, sentiments about the company have worsened somewhat, the firm says.
Hachette’s contract dispute with Amazon over e-book pricing has led the online retailer to delay shipments of physical Hachette books, with Hachette authors seeing delays of up to 5 weeks on Amazon. Some titles from Hachette authors aren’t available for pre-order on the site. Amazon says that its actions, despite all the media coverage, aren’t any different from what other retailers do when negotiating with their suppliers.
Here’s a chart from YouGov BrandIndex showing buzz (perception) and word-of-mouth scores for Amazon in the U.S. The firm says 8,000 people were interviewed in the U.S, with a margin of error of +/- 4%.
